Miso Ramen Recipe

I am not sure what it is, it could be the heat outside, but I just don’t have much of an appetite lately, especially for lunch.

Lunch is tough because I am definitely not a sandwich and salad type of person (I frown at the very thought of them), but Chinese food and Malaysian food with rice, stir-fry’s, curries and spices seem too heavy as of late. I wanted something lighter for my lunch, and this bowl of homemade spicy miso ramen came to my rescue. Other than ramen, I have also been eating cold soba noodles and oden, which are equally light and refreshing. I love Japanese food, it’s just refreshing and pleasant–exactly what I need…

I have always thought that making ramen is no small feat, but was very surprised to find out that it’s actually rather easy, if you are willing to cheat. (As you all know, I am quite a cheater when it comes to cooking; I don’t mind taking shortcuts as long as it doesn’t compromise a recipe too much.) The soul of ramen is its soup stock or dashi—where bonito flakes and kombu (seaweed) are boiled in water and then strained. I didn’t have both ingredients so I cheated with hondashi or an instant powdered alternative which essentially is an MSG.

It turned out very well, almost like the spicy miso ramen I get at my favorite ramen joint Santouka. The miso ramen was very tasty, spicy, and I couldn’t get enough. And now, my appetite is totally back!

I had miso ramen on July 4th. haha. I know it’s a pretty big departure from the traditional hot dogs and burgers but i can tell you i enjoyed every bit of it. Your version looks delicious! I’m craving now. :-)

Hey Bee, I wouldn’t worry at all about not using actual bonito and konbu– hondashi is what most people in Japan actually use anyway :) I looooove spicy food, so your yummy ramen with the chili oil floating on top gives me the jollies :)

Pssst…making good dashi out of konbu and katsuo flakes is really easy. Since it’s all simmered/boiled in one pot it requires little prep. Find a strainer for the flakes and a bit of time while you’re doing some other task and you’re good to go.

Hey Bee, thanks for your good vines n hugs ..i’m feeling all good now, and infact a bow of that miso would make me feel even better ! i’m such a sucker for Japanese food. This bowl of miso looks gr8 babe ! Like just right out of a fancy restaurant.

I feel very lucky to be living in OC where I am so close to fabulous Japanese restaurants. Even better, there are some great ramen houses here as well where I can get my fix of ramen noodles. I have to eat this like….at least once a week!But the ones I eat certainly don’t look as pretty as yours! Thanks for the recipe, I’ll have to get off my toosh and start making it now!

I had this 2 weeks back at a local Japanese restaurant in penang, and it was bad. Really bad, and that was one of the popular Japanese outlet… Anyways, yours look so delicious! D u know where can I buy Jap food ingredients in Penang? :-) Happy Weekend!

That is a very nicely appointed bowl of miso ramen! We have also been taking cold noodles of late to beat the heat. Japanese: somen and soba; Vietnamese: bun and garlic noodles; Korean: chap chae; Chinese: lo mein; Thai: pad woon sen.

Like White on Rice Couple, I also live in OC… and since you are/were in LA (I think), I am guessing maybe you ate at one time or another at Santouka or Daikokuya? I love the shio ramen at Santouka (LOVE), but I’ve tried their spicy miso and I have to say yours actually looks way better! REALLY nice job.

I wasn’t too hopeful about the hondashi, because you said it’s an MSG – I immediately thought of the bouillon used for instant ramen. I have to say though, this stuff tastes way better than most MSG stocks. Lucky for me, I was able to find it at my local asian market.

Being from the US, it was hard for me to find the right noodles. I ended up using something labeled ‘somen noodle’. I think this just means soup noodle. For a hint I found them right next to udon noodles which were posted as such. There is so much conflicting information on the web, it’s frustrating for westerners to figure out asian ingredients :). I think I chose correctly though – it turned out well.

Thank you for all of the recipes on your blog! I’ve been going thru a Japanese craving myself so plan on doing all your recipes!

As for lunch, you might have already tried them, and still may not fit your tastes, but my favorites are mixed-sando (I think that was the name), which is generally egg salad sandwich, and sliced cucumber combo with perhaps a ham sandwich. My other is omurice, kinda of a tomato fried rice, wrapped in fried egg and ketchup as the sauce (or perhaps demigrace sauce though I’ve only seen that done in a Japanese drama).

I am so grateful for this blog. So many wonderful recipes that I cannot find anywhere on the internet. Thanks for sharing your talent with all of us. Oh, and I love miso ramen! I’ve never tried to make it at home though but will try this recipe soon. Just a lil tip for cooking with miso: don’t let it boil. It’s best to add it in at the very end of cooking. It alters the flavor and compromises the quality of the soup stock.

We retired USAF two years ago and we been station in Japan 3 times. We enjoy living in Japan . The people is very polite , the place is very clean and the food Gosh, love it so much. We use to go in the mall just to have a big bowl of ramen soup and a cheese bread. Your soup is really look good, I will try to make it and thank you.

Made this tonight for my husband and nephew…so easy and so delicious. So filling though! I have been reading up on ramen broth from scratch recently, and added something to your recipe. I boiled dried shiitakes in the water for about 20 minutes to add their flavor to the broth before adding the hondashi, miso & chili oil and then had nice
moist firm mushrooms in the dish. Really fantastic. Ate at Daikokuya recently for the first time, and this recipe can definitely rival their flavor even though I know they do theirs from scratch. Ty!

I have been looking to buy for a fresh Ramen Noodle in Asian Markets in around Seattle area, but still cannot find any with a decent quality. They are mostly packaged with seasoning but I just want the noodle. Can you help? Thanks.